Columns & Editorials

The truth is, we live not in a Theocracy. Long gone are the days where Rulers, Kings, Monarchs, and Presidents look to a higher being in the decision making process. Human reasoning and understanding has become the final authority in all matters.

There is a tension that many believers find themselves in; the desire to stand up for what they believe in while understanding the world in which they live.

As a business, hip hop has always relied on the power of sex for profit. For years, artists like Patra, Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, and Nikki Minaj, to name a few, have capitalized on their sex appeal to great effect. Meaning they've made heaps of dollars by coupling art and sexuality. So with the reality of sex as entertainment ever before us, certain questions must be asked: how do we educate the impressionable minds being bombarded daily with sex and sex and more sex? Who is to provide this education? Parents, school teachers, the church?

In 1913, Chicago became, with great opposition, the first major city in the United States to implement sex education in public schools. This caused a great upheaval and attacks from the Catholic Church were stern and immediate. Today, there are two different types of sex education courses being offered in schools; the Comprehensive Sexuality Education and the Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Program, the latter being, naturally, the only option for those holding to the Christian faith.

The trouble with this, according to those in support of Comprehensive Sexuality Education, is the lack of information being disseminated. Which is to say that telling young people not to have sex before marriage is too simplistic. And considering the fact that the average teenager possesses a strong sexual appetite, they must be given the why's, the how's, and the what's in addition to the no's.

The old adage, “ignorance is bliss” seems rather unfit when dealing with such a grand issue. While the “Everybody is doing it” and the “Did you see the new Usher video?” factors only intensify the urge. Now this is not to say hip hop is, or ever was, the only form of music entertainment that's used sex for profit. The Rolling Stones, Kiss, Jimi Hendrix, even Elvis, with his incessant gyrating and eyebrow raising, used sex or the suggestion of sex throughout the years. Hip hop, however, has no doubt been the most visible and consistent. So, knowing this, how do we approach the education process?

Christian morality and thought would contend that sex is a sacred act designed exclusively for a man and a woman in the marriage bed. We know this to be a good thing. And while it is a good thing and even a great thing, it does not negate the fact that comprehensive information on sex should be, at the very least, offered to students who are facing sex at nearly every turn. Especially, and this is to be noted, if their parents are not doing so themselves. So rather than leave the next generation deprived of practical information or allow them to be taught by television, should the education system take part in hiring professionals who offer to teach both sides? Or would we rather leave it to music video countdowns?

About the Author

Chad Horton has been in the music business since 2000 and is currently the Director of Social Media for 10th Street Entertainment, which manages several multi-platinum artists. Originally from Northern California, Horton rooted himself in San Diego with his wife and two daughters.